Although Fire Safety Week is held during the second week in October, there is never a wrong time to learn about fire safety.
Captain Mike Cranwell and three other firefighters from the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue department visited the Union City Early Childhood Center on 35th Street on Tuesday to teach the students about safety and what the firefighters do. The center has five 3-year-old classes, four 4-year-old classes and three kindergarten classes.
“We have a very simple message,” said Cranwell, while waiting for the other firemen who were out on a call. “We want to let them know that we are the good guys. We are here to help them.”
During their visit, the firefighters touted the importance of having fire drills at home as well as at school. They also told the students not to play with the kitchen stove, candles, matches or electric sockets in the house.
Cranwell asked volunteers to demonstrate the stop, drop and roll procedure for when one’s clothes catch on fire.
“That is how you stay safe,” said Cranwell, after helping 3-year-old Eric Nunez demonstrate.
He told the students that they should never hide when they see smoke, adding that some children do hide in closets or under their beds, where the smoke will reach. Other firefighters showed some of their equipment and uniforms to the students.
“Many parents just don’t teach these things at home,” said Pre-school Teacher Carmen Quinones of the stop, drop and roll technique.
“There is only so much that we can teach children this age,” said Cranwell adding that they visit students in the elementary schools as well. “But we hope to build on that in subsequent years.”
Cranwell said that the firefighters visit schools within the five municipalities covered by the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue department to teach fire safety. The five municipalities are Union City, West New York, Weehawken, North Bergen and Guttenberg.
Quinones said that her students, although very young, do retain what they learn in school.
“The students are going to be very excited and are going to tell there parents that the firemen visited them today and what they learned,” said Quinones, adding that they may seem shy in the classroom, but open right up when their parents pick them up. “The children really do pick up what you tell them.”
All of the children received plastic fire hats and an instructional activity book on fire safety that they could go over with their parents.
Although the students learned a lot from Cranwell, Patrick Sanchez, 3, said that he liked wearing his fire chief hat and badge and might want to become a fireman someday.